Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Lawn Care - Heavy But Infrequent Watering

Just following on from the last post...we would like to clarify exactly what is the correct way to water your lawn.

If you refer to the following pages of our website at http://www.LawnGreen.com.au/beat_the_water_restrictions and http://www.LawnGreen.com.au/lawn_green_s_waterless_weed_and_feed_lawn_care, you will see that we recommend Heavy But Infrequent Watering.

With Heavy Watering you are encouraging deep turf root growth, and with a deep root system you get Drought Tolerance. Now this Heavy But Infrequent Watering is actually mimicked by our rainfall (in Australia - except for the mid to late Summers, where we do have some really Hot and Dry spells!). So we then tell our customers and friends that in the normal rainfall periods it really is unnecessary to water your lawns with town water, as the rainfall is taking care of the lawn grasses' water needs.

Anyway while you are visiting our website please register for the Free Report "The 5 Secrets To A Great Looking Lawn". This report is jam packed with great information and tips - the report rolls out over 5-7 days, and after that we keep in touch with you every 4 weeks with additional Lawn Care tips.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Lawn Care Tips - Waterless Lawn Care Except When Its Boiling Hot!

OK, alright! - We got it wrong, and we admit it!

All along we have promoted Waterless Lawn Care, where you just rely on the rainfall for Your Lawn's Heavy, But Infrequent Watering (refer to http://www.lawngreen.com.au/lawn_green_s_waterless_weed_and_feed_lawn_care ).

Lately, here in Sydney (Australia) we have hit some pretty hot days!

You know its Hot when the temperature reaches 40 degrees C in Sydney CBD (that's what it reached last Saturday 24th Jan 2009). For you people not familiar with Australia, Sydney city is a coastal town, and Summer temps rarely get over 30 degrees Celsius. Inland to the outer suburbs of Sydney, the temperatures in Summer are usually 5-7 degrees Celsius warmer that the coast.

Anyway, the point of this post is to remind people that we do encourage watering in extreme dry and hot conditions.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Lawn Care - Choosing the Right Turf Grass and Other Alternatives For Shady Areas

In the course of our business of Lawn Care, we see plenty of landscape situations where there is way too much shade for the prevailing (and usually, under - performing) lawn grass.

Usually what has happened is that the original garden design took into account a fairly sunny aspect, however, over time this sunny aspect has become more shady with the growth of plants, trees and garden hedges. The growth of these plants may have occurred for a number of reasons including the home owner's desire for more privacy.

However, home owners then need to understand that if they wish to retain the existing shady outlook, then the lawn areas may need to be replaced with a turf more suited to and tolerant of shady situations.

Alternately, the homeowner may consider changes to the current landscape design including:
  • decorative paving to the areas affected by shade
  • extending and increasing the garden beds to areas affected by shade - it is important to plant low growing shrubs or ground cover plants in the shade affected areas, and to plant shrubs that will tolerate shade (obviously)

Any changes to landscape design may require the services of a landscape designer (or nursery plant supplier) to assist in the correct selection of plants for predominantly shady areas. More drastic changes might include a total over haul of the current landscape design.

Regardless of what happens it would also help the home owner to seek advice from a specialist Lawn Care company. A specialist Lawn Care company will give totally independent advice as to what is the right turf grass for the home owner's landscape. The cost of consultation for this advice would be offset by the cost of supplying and installing the wrong turf grass.

Lawn Green specialises in "turning your tired old grass into lush green lawn" using its Waterless Weed and Feed Lawn Care program.

To find out more about Lawn Care please visit http://www.LawnGreen.com.au/lawn_green_s_faq_frequently_asked_questions and whilst you are visiting http://LawnGreen.com.au please register for your Free Report on "The 5 Secrets To A Great Looking Lawn."

Selecting the Right Turf Grass For Your Lawn Areas

Selecting the correct Turf Grass for landscaped areas around your home can be a challenge. The main factor that needs to be considered when choosing the turf or lawn type for your garden areas is Sunlight.

Sunlight (or to the contrary, shade) is one of the most important factors to consider when selecting the turf grass for your home.

In the Australian climate (and particularly here in Sydney), the main Warm Season turf grasses available to homeowners are Durban Grass, Buffalo (or St Augustine Grass as it is known in North America), Zoysia, Couch (or Bermuda Grass as it is known in North America) and Kikuyu.

Now, in order of shade tolerance you have Durban Grass (which can just about tolerate full shade without too much trouble), then next you have Buffalo (which can tolerate a fair bit of shade but needs a few hours of sunlight each day), then Zoysia and Couch (they can handle some shade but need around 6 hours of sunlight each day, and finally you have Kikuyu (which hates shade, and needs full sun to perform well all year round).

Once the above information is considered, then you can choose the turf grass based on your preference for colour and aesthetics.

We have seen garden situations where the predominant turf is Kikuyu, however, because the garden plants have grown since the original landscaping was completed the lawn areas have become covered extensively with shade. Consequently, the under performing Kikuyu lawn has become an eyesore for the homeowner.

The advice we give the homeowner is to create more sunlight for the lawn areas by trimming and pruning garden plants, or alternately, replace the kikuyu lawn with a more shade tolerant Lawn grass.

For more specific information on Lawn and Turf Grass Types go to: http://www.LawnGreen.com.au/what_turf_grass_is_that and http://www.LawnGreen.com.au/lawn_green_s_waterless_weed_and_feed_lawn_care

And while you are there please register online for Lawn Green's Free Report "The 5 Secrets To A Great Looking Lawn."

Friday, January 16, 2009

Lawn Care - Lawn Damage by Disease, Insects & Drought/Heat Stress

Every summer in Sydney, Australia we can look forward to our fair share of hot weather with wet and dry periods depending on local prevailing conditions.

It goes without saying that all Australian lawns and turf grasses (warm season grasses including couch, kikuyu, buffalo, zoysia and so on) will suffer from diseases (fungal attacks), insect damage and heat stress depending on the prevailing Summer conditions.

Generally, if the conditions are more wet, we will see more lawns damaged by fungal attacks. Obviously, there will be a greater incidence of fungal attacks with conducive conditions - those being warm and wet weather conditions.

On the other hand, if conditions are hot and dry (that is, when there has been little heavy rain fall for several weeks), then any lawn insect damage that has already occurred will become obvious with dead patches appearing in the lawn.

We notice that if we have a hot summer with regular rain fall (that is, with around 15-25 millimetres rain falling say every 7 to 10 days) then even though the insects (curl grubs, for example) have damaged the turf grass root system, this is not apparent on top - that is, the turf grass will look undamaged to the untrained eye.

With these wetter conditions, however, there is a greater chance of lawns suffering from one of many fungal diseases that attack the many different turf grasses.

Just a quick note regarding heat or drought stress to lawns.

We recommend people provide heavy but infrequent water to their lawns and turf grasses. Heavy but infrequent watering (25mm of rainfall or watering every week or two) promotes deep root growth. Deep root systems make lawns drought tolerant. This heavy but infrequent watering (as experienced in the coastal areas of Australia) comes in the form of our rainfall. So it stands to reason that we don't need to water our lawns.

Lawn Green specialises in "turning your tired old grass into lush green lawn."

All Lawn Lovers please go to
http://www.LawnGreen.com.au for your Free Report on "The 5 Secrets To A Great Looking Lawn."

Or for more specific information on Lawn Insect Control, disease and watering go to: http://www.LawnGreen.com.au/beat_the_water_restrictions , http://www.LawnGreen.com.au/lawn_green_lawn_care_and_granular_insect_control_treatment or to http://www.LawnGreen.com.au/lawn_green_lawn_care_and_turf_insect_damage

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Turf Insect Damage inflicted on Your Lawns

Have you noticed that lots of lawns (particularly in Sydney, Australia where I live) are suffering serious lawn damage as a result of Lawn Foraging Insects?

We are posting this blog because a some of our clients are experiencing set backs with their lawns at present, and we thought it best to let you know that any set backs that you may be experiencing with your lawn at present is likely to be a result of Insect damage.

Some people think that maybe it's just a bit of heat stress and try to fix the problem with extra watering.

However, the best thing to do is to attack the problem head on with an insecticide that targets Lawn Feeding Insects.

These insects include:
  • Couch Fly, Couch Grass Mite, Curl Grub and Black Beetle attacking Couch Turf grasses
  • Curl Grub, Black Beetle, Bill Bug and so on that attack all range of turf grasses including couch, kikuyu, buffalo, zoysia etc
In keeping with Lawn Green's minimal spraying approach (think Dry Lawn Care Method), we use a Granular Insecticide that is bullet proof in its control of Lawn Insects.

The benefits of using the Granular Insecticide as opposed to the Liquid ones are as follows:
  • safer for customers because of the granular approach - it only has to be watered in afterwards to activate the insecticide
  • safer for us because it is a granular product
  • gives you control over insects for longer periods - depending on quantity applied to lawns
  • the granular insecticide is really effective because it is not photo degradable (that is, it does not break down in sunlight - whereas the liquid insecticides lose their potency due to breaking down in sunlight
Anyway, if you need help with fixing your Lawn Insect Damage problems please call Lawn Green immediately on 1300 55 74 72.

Or you can call Gerry directly on his mobile on 0412.766.955

Another thing, could you please spread the good news (to your friends) about Lawn Green. Tell them they can visit us at www.LawnGreen.com.au

Or if they want specific information on Lawn insect damage and Lawn insect control, just send them to http://www.lawngreen.com.au/lawn_green_lawn_care_and_granular_insect_control_treatment or to http://www.lawngreen.com.au/lawn_green_lawn_care_and_turf_insect_damage to see if we can help them.